Wow, I sure let this thread die. For those of you who care, my first batch was a monumental fail. I over primed my bottles, so...when I opened them, the beer erupted out of the bottle like a foam geyser! So, I gave up, but now I'm back! I have a 5gal batch of a beginner LME on day 4 of fermentation. Hopefully this run will have a desirable outcome!

crh... good to see you trying again. How did you prime your beer? Just made another batch of porter. I wanted to start it earlier but, thanks to Sandy, that got pushed back six weeks. The first two days no activity, no change in OG. I was getting ready to add dry yeast in addition to the vial of liquid that came with the kit. I decided to give it a stir and wait another 24 hours. Two days later, I had porter pushing up through the airlock. Pete